(1) Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein generally relates to the field of athletic teaching devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices for training techniques for catching a thrown ball with fingertips rather than palms.
The world of competitive sports is becoming more and more of a business than a game. It has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry with players' contracts reaching as high as one quarter of a billion dollars and television rights costing billions of dollars. With the growth of this industry, the demand for performance enhancement tools has grown dramatically.
The present invention is intended for use primarily by football and basketball players as a training aid to enhance the ability of a receiver to catch a thrown ball. It is essentially a glove with a wrist extension, that can be worn by the athlete. The invention is designed to develop the “crab” technique of ball reception, requiring the ball to be caught by squeezing it with the fingertips similar to the way a crab uses its claws to grasp food. In this technique, the ball is caught with the fingers, and should never touch the palms of the hands during reception.
(2) Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. 1.97 and 1.98.
Unlike activities wherein it is desirable or advantageous to maintain a high level of grip pressure on an implement, many sports and other activities place a premium on grasping or controlling an item with fingers or fingertips. For instance, in the sport of football, conventional wisdom indicates that receivers should develop skills for catching thrown footballs with their fingers or fingertips rather than with their palms; such techniques enable receivers to extend their vertical and lateral reach for receiving passes, and otherwise increase their dexterity in retrieving thrown footballs. Similarly, conventional wisdom indicates that basketball players should develop their skills for catching, dribbling and shooting basketballs more with their fingers and fingertips than with their palms. However, although allowing the ball to contact the palm is discouraged, an athlete's fingertips often contact the palm as a normal incident of running or playing a sport.
Known in the art are various types of gloves for assisting the user to correctly learn or practice different activities, especially sports involving the gripping of an implement by a handle. Common examples include gloves intended to be worn by golfers or baseball batters. Almost all such technique-training gloves provide an indication when the user loosens his or her grip upon the handle.
The following patents are arguably related to the patentability of the subject invention:
U.S. Pat. No.1st InventorDate6,126,572SmithOct. 3, 20006,016,103LeavittJan. 18, 20006,006,358KeatingDec. 28, 19995,771,492CozzaJun. 30, 19985,733,201Caldell et alMar. 31, 19985,655,223CozzaAug. 12, 19975,509,809ClayApr. 23, 19964,488,726MurrayDec. 18, 1984
U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,492 issued to Cozza discloses a golf training glove signaling a failure to maintain proper grip pressure about the golf club during the swing. The glove includes a pressure-responsive sensor on the knuckle of the thumb, another pressure sensor on the palm, and a pressure sensor on the knuckle of the little finger. Grip pressure is desirable, gauged primarily by pressure exerted on the palm while the club is grasped therein. The sensor on the little finger, normally inactivated before the user grips the club, is activated (closed-circuit) when the little finger is properly bent around the golf club. The other sensors are empowered when sufficient pressure closes a circuit normally separated by insulation. A signal is emitted if the sensor on the little finger indicates lack of bending, or if one of the other sensors indicate insufficient grip pressure. Rather than disclosing means for bypassing the palm pressure sensors when the little finger is bent inwardly toward the palm, Cozza discloses just the opposite; lack of bending triggers an alarm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,726 issued to Murray discloses a sports practice glove comprising several pressure-operated switches arranged on the inside gripping surface (such as the thumb, fingertips and palm), plus an alarm actuated when pressure on any of the switches falls below a predetermined threshold for gripping a club, racket or bat. The switches are normally closed; when the gloved hand properly grips a sports implement, all switches are held open until pressure against a switch falls below a threshold.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,572 issued to Smith discloses an apparatus for monitoring and displaying pressure data obtained while the wearer is engaged in physical exercise, especially isometric exercise. This type of exercise essentially occurs as one part of the body (with associated muscles) exerts pressure against another part of the body opposing such pressure, thereby exercising the body; the amount of pressure being exerted, and the change in pressure, is a measure of the amount of exercise being performed. Disclosed is an apparatus comprising a pressure-change sensor (providing a signal reflecting the amount of pressure change), a monitor that processes that signal into a display signal, and a display that produces a visualization of the pressure change. The apparatus can be integrated into a glove, with pressure sensors on the palm or other points of interest. This patent does not disclose any means for bypassing the triggering of a signal unintentionally resulting from alternative pressure(s) that are deemed acceptable.
The present invention is intended to train for lack of palm pressure, whereas the other inventions dealing with pressure encourage such pressure. The present invention also includes a way of avoiding “false alarms”, by including finger flexion means for bypassing the triggering of a palm-pressure signal unintentionally resulting from the flexing of fingers against the palm (as when running with fists closed).